Juvenile Rockfish

Harbors provide shelter for boats and for animals. When this young fish grows up, it will leave the harbor for a rocky kelp bed in the open ocean. In a game of hide and seek, the young fish will find something to rest on or near which makes it hard to be seen. This helps them to surprise attack their dinner but also prevents them from being eaten too. Rockfish take 4 to 6 years to grow up and they can live to 100 years old. Fish have little bubbles of air in their swim bladders, which helps them stay perfectly still, and not sink or float. This helps them blend in with the ebb and flow of the water.